During the interview, Mattis revealed that the US will escalate its military strategy against the Islamic State (IS formerly ISIS/ISIL), despite the “fact of life” that it will cause even more civilian casualties.

“Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to North Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We’re not going to allow them to do so. We’re going to stop them there and take apart the caliphate,” he said.

He also discussed the Trump administration’s diplomatic relations with Russia saying: “Right now, we’re dealing with Russia, attempting to deal with Russia, under President Trump’s direction, in a diplomatic manner.”

However, it was his villainesque remark about keeping people up at night, that drew by far, the greatest reaction on Twitter with numerous people describing it as “the quote of the year”.

The clip sparked a rush of “Mattis facts”, a take on the popular “Chuck Norris facts” trend.

A cobra once decided to bite James Mattis. After several days of excruciating pain, the cobra passed away. #MattisFacts